Part 18: A Fairy Special Episode

Update 10: A Fairy Special Episode



"As we have no real leads on how to enter Darzog's tower and rescue Crodo, who in turn is our best lead on Lord Xeen, we may as well take the time to help Danulf and Ligono and see if we can find out anything while we explore. If our information is correct, Danulf's wand is somewhere in this forest, and Ligono's skull may be near the edge of the world."



"Is there nowhere in Xeen we can travel without being accosted by bandits, monsters or both?"

In addition to the sprites, the western half of the forest is infested with Evil Rangers. Evil Rangers are another of those enemies that selectively target one character class: as the hintbook puts it, "while they dislike just about everybody they meet, they especially dislike Druids". They're heavily resistant to poison, moderately resistant to other elements, and their physical attacks can inflict the Poisoned condition. They have quite a bit of HP, but don't do that much damage. They also carry 500 gold, 5 gems, and sometimes a decent item.



This shrine just a little southeast of Rivercity grants a temporary +50 Magic resistance to characters. Magic resistance is pretty hard to come by, so this is handy when fighting enemies that attack with magic.



"Sprites lay eggs? That raises all sorts of questions that I don't want to know the answers to."



Our reward for destroying the Killer Sprite nest is 50 gems and several random items.



Surprisingly good random items, in fact: most of these give about a +10 bonus to a stat or resistance.

"That was satisfying and all, but I didn't see Danulf's wand anywhere in there."



"Someone say wand? Fubar find wand!"



"That is one item downwards, and one to go. To the edge of the world!"



There are more bottles with stuff in them floating around the swamps.



"Huh. How they fit that through neck of bottle? Also, why?"



"Looks like we've hit paydirt! Or payswamp, as the case may be."



As long as you have a party of Swimmers, you can find Ligono's skull easily by going west from Nightshadow and following the southern edge of the world. Watch out for Swamp Things.



"A tomb at the western edge of the swamp, so far from settled lands? How interesting! Perhaps it is the last remaining monument of a misplaced civilisation!"
"We may have the stones to explore it, but we don't have the stone to get in."



"Now see, this is a king who knows the meaning of gratitude! Maybe he should be running Xeen instead of King Burlock."



In addition to the gold, we earn 45,000 experience points for solving Danulf's quest.



"Spell for skull. Seem like fair deal. Good luck in afterlife."



Recharge Item is a pretty sweet spell if you have magic items worth recharging. We happen to have picked up an item that casts Lloyd's Beacon, so this now means we can set six different beacons (one for each character) without worrying about running out of charges. The spell costs 15 spell points and 10 gems, and there's a limit to how powerful an item it can recharge.

Oh, and since I know you'll want a video for this:





"I wonder what kind of idiot lives out here with all these evil rangers around."



"Extinction? Is it truly as you say? This situation, she is a disaster! Consider a world without the great Vandesloof -- it is beyond imagining! We must recover this book at once!"



"According to map, this should be Tower of High Magic. Need key to get in. Not have key. Not get in."



"There are some rain barrels around the tower, but... it looks like they're just full of rain. Not sure what else I was expecting, really."



"Wow, this castle not look so good."
"Newcastle used to be a major centre of magical research. Right now, not so much. Being exploded will do that to a place. Looks like somebody's set up some kind of booth outside, though..."
"Is it kissing booth? Fubar love kissing booth!"



"Fubar not love kissing booth so much any more."
"Really? But look, he's already puckered up his whole face in anticipation!"
"Um, I think we'll have to get back to you later. We don't have quite enough gold on hand right now in any case."



There are two wells near each other on the western outskirts of the Fairy Forest, one that temporary raises Intellect by 50 and another that does the same for Personality. To benefit from the maximum spell point boost that they give you, you'll also need to visit a spell point fountain, so they're not very convenient as combat boosters. There are a couple of special events that check Intellect or Personality directly, though, so they're useful for those.



"If nobody else is keeping order in these lands, I guess the job falls to us."



"Gee, you think you were thorough enough? Why not salt the earth while we're here?"



We get a little gold and some so-so random items from destroying the camp. The most useful one was a Steel Staff, which is a good replacement for Vandesloof's weapon.



"Beyond here lies the Troll Forest, where Tito's book is. It's said to be dangerous, though, and we may learn something about Lord Xeen if we investigate Newcastle and find out why it was destroyed. Plus, it's getting kind of cold out here."



"Fubar not afraid of cold! When Fubar was little kid, Fubar walk two miles through snow to school and back every day! Well, actually, Fubar walk one mile through snow, spend day making snowmen, and go home when it get dark. But not tell Fubar's parents that."



"I suggest we start with Newcastle. It may take some time to have it restored to a fit condition for exploration, so we should begin the process as soon as possible."



"Could do either, really. Strong enough to survive forest, got enough money to buy castle."



"Tito sure made it sound like the Holy Book of Elvenkind was important. The castle will still be there in a week or a month, but who knows who might stumble across the book in that time?"



"I say we buy Newcastle first. No particular reason, I just don't want to have to agree with Trish about something again."



"How is this even a point of debate? Do you not care about the survival of the great Vandesloof?"

This was a super short update, but we've still managed to open up a couple of new quests and areas. Should we continue exploring outdoors in search of Tito's book, or buy Newcastle and see what we can do to fix it up? Vote now!